1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device for workpiece identification marking of a workpiece that is made of a deformable material, whereby the workpiece identification marking has a plurality of identification marking elements, each of which comprises elevations that project out of the surface of the workpiece and/or depressions that extend into the surface of the workpiece, and which were made by molding in a workpiece identification marking mold, as well as to a method for the workpiece identification marking.
2. Description of Related Art
A similar method of the prior art is disclosed in EP 0 257 805 A2, which also relates to a reading device for such a workpiece identification marking. On injection-molded articles such as automobile tires, the prior art teaches the insertion into the mold of a die plate that carries alphanumeric characters that refer to the date of manufacture and provide additional information about the tire. The data in this identification marking can also include, among other things, the week of production, the production locations, material mixtures, type of profile and similar information. This die plate must be inserted manually, which means that in this case the precision of the marking can only be down to the level of the individual batch. The replacement of the die plate is also a more or less complex and time-consuming operation.
For quality assurance purposes, however, it is necessary to improve the ability to trace products. On other articles, this enhanced tracing capability is achieved by various complex and expensive means, e.g. by laser engraving or by printing a code. For the application of such a laser engraving or printed code, an additional processing station must be provided, by means of which the date and time can be printed with a precision down to the level of each individual piece.